Porsche creating Vision GT concept for Gran Turismo Sport

Automakers ranging from hypercar specialists to mass-market budget brands have created Vision GT concepts for Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo. Porsche for various reasons, remains a conspicuous absence among the list of contributors to that most conceptual of realms. A report in Car magazine says the situation will change sometime in “the next few months,” when Porsche releases a Vision GT concept for GT Sport. When it arrives, it will join the Taycan Turbo unleashed in the game last November, and the 917 Living Legend concept that’s due to be available to players in the first half of this year.

We have no idea how far Porsche designers will embellish the brand’s deep trough of experimental racing technology for a Vision GT car. We do know, however, that fans wouldn’t be upset if Porsche used the fan-made Vision GT concept from 2016 (pictured). An international group of automotive designers who work for Chery during the day, joined by a professional photo retoucher, spent two years developing their own idea of a racing concept for GT called the 908-04. Mixing the 1969 908 LH longtail racer with the 918 Spyder and 919 Hybrid, plus the fan from the 917 and the face of the Mission E concept, we said of it at the time, “We’ll only be able to imagine ourselves driving it, though, as this is not an official concept from Porsche. And even if it was, it’s highly unlikely Polyphony Digital would go through the necessary hoops to get Porsche in the game. Instead, we can just drool.”

We were wrong. The five car guys produced such impressive results that Porsche contacted them to give a thumbs up, then made a short film about the effort in September of last year. The blessing extended to redressing the original concept in a 919 Hybrid livery, and parking some of the real-life inspirations in the background of the video.

Porsche will likely want to make its own way for its first-ever Vision GT concept instead of working off an admittedly outstanding outside contribution. But maybe the carmaker could at least approve the 908-04 for the game, because we’re just as primed to drive it now as we were four years ago, and we’ve never heard anyone say, “That’s too many Porsches.”